LOVE these old pictures of such heavy work being done by hand.  What I would give to have a conversation with these gents today.....

But here's the chain-makers anvil in use, thought it was very interesting to look at:

 

 

Edited April 1, 201511 yr by Black Frog

Greetings Frogman,

Neet pictures , Thanx for posting them.  Did you notice the two handled sledge in the front row?  They have the same striker pose as you.. Lol. I have pictures. 

Forge on and make beautiful things

Jim

Coincidently I have just been looking at those images on google image search, the top two are of one of the Titanic chain making teams. The site I found had all the guys named.

I found a photo of a team with a three handled sledge and have posted that on the two handled sledge thread.

At the Ironbridge/Coalbrookdale/Blists Hill museum they have set up the double arch shingling hammer and puddling furnaces from Walmsleys who were the last wrought iron makers in the UK. A few years ago I met and chatted with a museum employee who was one of the last puddlers who had worked at Walmsleys in the sixties. He had just finished his apprenticeship when they closed. A living link to the industrial past.

Alan

Jim, yup I posted that pic in the Tools section under the two handled sledge  thread. cool stuff 

I was there back in the 70's?  when they were just siting in the shingling hammer.  I hope folks are recording all that fellow can tell us about puddling from first hand experience!

it's also interesting to see that the sledges have different sizes to suit each ones possibilities...

 

it's also interesting to see that the sledges have different sizes to suit each ones possibilities...

 

​I keep getting drawn to the shortest guy in the front with the massive arms and the biggest hammer resting on the chain to the right of the two handled hammer. Definitely the hard man!

Alan

   Did you notice the two handled sledge in the front row? 

​Another two handled sledge in the second picture, in front of the anvil.

And you know its serious when you add a bar to your tong-rings to rotate the stock

Notice in the first picture there is an elaborate system of levers and formed stock to both keep the forming bick tight to the anvil and to hold it securely.  It looks like it also prevented the anvil from tilting or moving toward the side being hammered on.  Very cool pictures.

Notice in the first picture there is an elaborate system of levers and formed stock to both keep the forming bick tight to the anvil and to hold it securely.  It looks like it also prevented the anvil from tilting or moving toward the side being hammered on.  Very cool pictures.

​I assumed that the long bar resting on the old tue iron in the foreground with the swage on its end, pivoted in the yoke and when flipped over became the top tool over the corresponding swage in the forming bick tool rather than it being a stabilising lever.

Alan

At the Ironbridge/Coalbrookdale/Blists Hill museum they have set up the double arch shingling hammer and puddling furnaces from Walmsleys who were the last wrought iron makers in the UK. A few years ago I met and chatted with a museum employee who was one of the last puddlers who had worked at Walmsleys in the sixties. He had just finished his apprenticeship when they closed. A living link to the industrial past.

Alan

​My colleague volunteered at Ironbridge when they were first getting set up for producing wrought iron and has experienced the whole process from puddling through to refining the pig iron with their huge hammer and then rolling the iron, in fact we still have (at a guess) 1/4 ton of Ironbridge wrought in 3" square by 6' lengths at work which he helped to produce!  It's amazing to hear him talk about the processes involved and the stories of how they re-learned to make wrought iron.  Sadly I've heard that they no longer puddle iron at Ironbridge anymore, they just weld up and re-roll old wrought stock.

​My colleague volunteered at Ironbridge when they were first getting set up for producing wrought iron and has experienced the whole process from puddling through to refining the pig iron with their huge hammer and then rolling the iron, in fact we still have (at a guess) 1/4 ton of Ironbridge wrought in 3" square by 6' lengths at work which he helped to produce!  It's amazing to hear him talk about the processes involved and the stories of how they re-learned to make wrought iron.  Sadly I've heard that they no longer puddle iron at Ironbridge anymore, they just weld up and re-roll old wrought stock.

I understand that when they rebuilt the puddling furnaces, they employed a ceramic kiln making company who thought they knew best and did not discuss the requirements with the people from Walmsleys that knew, and so the resulting puddling furnaces are not functionable, and having spent the money the museum cannot replace them with ones which would work...

When I was chatting to the puddler, to my shame I cannot remember his name, nobody from the museum had interviewed or filmed him and collected his reminiscences for posterity. 

Alan

I saw a book at an antique mall a few years ago that was a technical piece about wrought iron.  IIRC it was from the early 1970's. One of those should have bought it after the fact moments, but $15 was more than I was willing to spend at the time.